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Concept
Adnan Oktar
Summary
Adnan Oktar (ɑdˈnan ɔkˈtaɾ; born 2 February 1956), also known as Adnan Hoca or Harun Yahya, is a Turkish cult leader, preacher, creationist, conspiracy theorist, and pamphleteer. Between the 2000s and late 2010s, he was engaged in "a massive campaign" of proselytizing Westerners to Islam, producing dozens of vividly illustrated books.
In the West, before his arrest and trial, Oktar was perhaps best known for his unsolicited sending thousands of copies of his creationist book, The Atlas of Creation, to French schools and universities in January 2007, and several months later to American scientists, members of Congress, science museums and schools.
Prior to his arrest, Oktar ran two organizations in which he also served as honorary president: Bilim Araştırma Vakfı (BAV, literally, "Science Research Foundation", established 1990), which promoted creationism and Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı (literally, "Foundation for Protection of National Values", established 1995) which worked domestically on a variety of moral issues.
In more recent years, Oktar has preached "the true Islam" based on the Quran on his television channel, A9 TV. Oktar's organization is commonly referred to as a cult, and he has been described by Vice magazine as the "most notorious cult leader in Turkey." Oktar filed more than 5,000 lawsuits against individuals for defamation from 2005 to 2015, which led to the blocking of a number of prominent websites in Turkey.
On 11 January 2021, Oktar was sentenced to 1,075 years in prison after being tried for charges including forming a criminal enterprise, financial fraud, and sexual abuse. Along with thirteen others detained in the case, sentences totalled 9,803 years.
However, on 15 March 2022, Oktar's verdict was overturned by the Turkish Court of Appeal "due to incomplete prosecution and erroneous assessment." He was subsequently sentenced to 8,658 years on 17 November 2022 as a result of his retrial.
Adnan Oktar was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1956, and grew up there through his high school years.
Official source
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